Best School Districts for Your Buck in New Jersey

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Many parents in New Jersey are confronted with a difficult choice: On one hand, the state has been consistently recognized by organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council as having some of the best schools in the country. But those quality schools come with a cost: New Jersey’s housing ranks as the fifth-most expensive nationally.

The problem is further compounded for many families, because the best schools are often located in places where housing costs are higher. And moving to those top districts — such as Millburn, Northern Valley or Mountain Lakes, where home values reach as high as $900,000 — is often prohibitively expensive for many families.

However, there are many affordable cities with strong schools, and many places where better schools offset the premium of living there. By balancing school quality ratings with cost-of-living data, NerdWallet has found the school districts where families will get the most bang for their buck in New Jersey.

Here’s how we determined the best school districts in New Jersey:

Standardized test scores. This was a combination of 11th grade proficiency levels for the HSPA and SAT averages for the class of 2013.

College readiness. We combined equally weighted scores for the graduation rate and percent of high school graduates seeking higher education.

Class size. We factored in student-to-teacher ratio.

We evaluated 266 school districts in New Jersey. All data are from the U.S. Census Bureau or the New Jersey Department of Education. To see the full data set, click here.

1. Haddonfield

With some of the highest HSPA and SAT scores in the state, Haddonfield tops our list of the school districts where you get the most for your money in New Jersey. Elementary, middle and high schools in the borough of Haddonfield were ranked an average of 9 out of 10 at GreatSchools.org. Haddonfield Memorial High School is a national blue ribbon school that matches academic excellence with its commitment to philanthropy. Students have taken the lead with Habitat for Humanity, Invisible Children, the Human Relations Commission and Students Helping Honduras.

2. Glen Rock

No stranger to accolades, Glen Rock has both high HSPA scores and a graduation rate of 99%. Opportunities for students begin early: Glen Rock Middle School has its own newspaper and a robotics club that earned first place in the First Lego League. In addition to strong academics, Glen Rock’s high school is known for its athletic prowess — with several recent state championships in football and girls soccer.

3. Bernards Township

Even though it has a median home value of $631,800, Bernards Township earned the No. 3 spot on our list because of its strength in all categories we analyzed. Bernards Township had a graduation rate of 97%, a SAT average of 1738 and 97.4% of the 2013 class scored proficient or higher on the HSPA. The school district, which offers language courses beginning in fifth grade, features high-level courses in Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Italian and Latin.

4. Verona

In Verona, school quality is widespread: Over the past 20 years, three of Verona’s six public schools, including Verona High School, have been recognized as “Star Schools,” the highest honor for schools in New Jersey. Verona has a 99% graduation rate and 97.2% of students score proficient or higher on the HSPA. Additionally, over the past five years, Verona High School has recorded 32 state and conference championships by its boys and girls sports teams.

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5. Pequannock

Pequannock is one of the most affordable districts on our list, but quality isn’t sacrificed for affordability. In 2013, 97.3% of students scored proficient or higher on the HSPA, and the graduation rate was 97%. The recent addition of a STEM academy for students who want to focus on higher science and math complements a diverse curriculum that includes courses in TV production and business.

6. Robbinsville

In addition to its 99% graduation rate, the 98.2% proficiency rate of students who took the HSPA in 2013 helped Robbinsville grab a spot on our list. The school district includes Pond Road Middle School and Robbinsville High, which received an 8 and 9, respectively, at GreatSchools. The median home value of $422,000 in Robbinsville means housing costs are slightly above average, but for some residents, the schools are worth the premium of living here.

7. Princeton Regional

Princeton’s ranking — even with some of highest academic performance in the state — was hurt by its median home value of $718,000, the highest in our top 10. Princeton’s SAT average of 1848 ranked fourth statewide, and its student enrollment in higher education was 91.6%. Princeton Regional School District features four schools ranked a perfect 10 by GreatSchools.org, and its high school offers an array of AP courses including a Java class for computer science students.

8. Nutley

In addition to scoring well in our academic metrics, Nutley has an award-winning music program, which it touts as one of the best in the nation. Even as the district has focused on academic quality, school facilities haven’t been ignored, with the last renovation in 2006.

9. New Providence

The school district was recently heralded by the College Board. The district performs well across the board, with strong scores in our college-readiness index and the testing averages measure. Extracurricular excellence includes state championships in girls tennis and cross country and recognition of its music education by the National Association for Music Merchants.

10. Cherry Hill

Cherry Hill is a hidden gem with the median home value of $274,600, which is the lowest in our top 20. While the district scored well overall when it comes to academic quality, Cherry Hill, with 18 schools, is one of the largest school districts in New Jersey. Among the top ranked schools are Joseph D. Sharp, Bret Harte and Cherry Hill High School East.

Methodology

The score for each district was calculated from these measures:

Housing cost for each school district was 30% of the total score. Housing cost was calculated by averaging the district index score for median home value and selected monthly homeowner costs (which includes property tax) for the school district. The more affordable the area, the higher the cost score. Data came from the 2013 DP04 from the U.S. Census FactFinder.

Standardized testing score was 30% of the total score. District scores from 2012-13 were calculated by equally weighting state indexes for the percent of 11th graders who scored proficient or higher on the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), as well as the average SAT scores of a district. Data was provided by the New Jersey Department of Education.

College readiness for the class of 2013 was 30% of the total score. College readiness was a combination of a school district’s high school graduation rate, which is the percentage of students who graduate in the standard four years, and the percentage of students going on to four-year institutions for higher education. Data came from the New Jersey Department of Education.

Student-to-teacher ratio was 10% of the score. Data was provided by the New Jersey Department of Education.

We evaluated 266 unified school districts in New Jersey for this study. Some school districts in the state weren’t included, since they lacked one or more data points.

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